Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church
By The Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe
Little Brown & Co.
274 pgs.
ISBN: 0-3160-7558-2
Profile of a scandal
By Steven Martinovich
web posted July 15, 2002
Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church is based on a series
of reports in the Boston Globe on the sex abuse scandal that has
hammered the Catholic Church during this and recent years. It is
a scandal that has seen dozens priests charged with sex abuse,
mostly involving young boys, dating sometimes far back as
several decades. Betrayal shows its newspaper pedigree by
rarely getting into the deeper questions of the scandal. It eschews
that in favor of a somber tourist trip through events that some
have predicted will bring major changes -- organizationally and
perhaps even doctrinally -- to an institution that has survived
over two millennia and remains the world's strongest proponent
of traditional values.
Despite that, Betrayal does serve as a worthwhile introduction to
a scandal that has many American Catholics reevaluating their
devotion to the Church. Personified by figures such as disgraced
former priest Jack Geoghan and Boston Cardinal Bernard
Francis Law, the scandal has led to an unprecedented attack on
the Church and its priests and once again raised issues that have
dogged the Catholic Church for centuries.
Given that Boston has served as the epicenter for the scandal, it's
not surprising that Betrayal concentrates much of its focus on the
traditionally Catholic city. During the late 1800s and early 1900s,
the Church was all-powerful, helping Catholic immigrants
establish themselves in their new country and providing a social
network for its members. Although the Church's power began to
wane in the 1950s and 60s, thanks to a new permissive culture
that continues to make its presence felt, the Catholic Church
remains an integral part of many Bostonian's lives. Even in these
secular days, Boston's residents continue to have a close
relationship with their Church. It's not surprising then, that the
strongest reaction to the burgeoning scandal has been from that
city.
The picture the Globe paints in Betrayal is one that isn't likely to
build confidence in the Church. For decades priests that had
been accused of sexual abuse of children had been shuttled
around from parish to parish with little advance warning to the
parishioners whose children were at risk. With the help of
deferential politicians, law enforcement and parishioners, not to
mention fellow priests who said little, these priests were shielded
by a Church afraid to admit the extent of the problem and
interested in protecting its reputation. Out of proportion to their
actual numbers, these priests gone wrong have wrought
incredible damage to the Church.
As the Globe's investigative team aptly illustrates, by refusing to
deal with several issues decades ago, the Church has unwittingly
opened a Pandora's box of problems. Activists who have been
pressing for years to allow female and homosexual priests have
been strengthened as the Church has reeled from each new
allegation. The very moral standing of the Church is now in
question among many.
Despite that, some good could come out of the sex abuse
scandals. Betrayal spotlights a new generation of lay people who
are eager to turn the Church into a more open institution, in stark
contrast to the rigidly hierarchical organization that has come into
being. Although it's still early to tell what long-term damage the
scandals will do to the Church, increased participation by the
laity could help revitalize it in this new century.
Along with its skimming of the issues, Betrayal does an adequate
job of sketching many of the people behind the names that have
burst into the headlines, including Geoghan and Law. Although
some of the agendas of the Globe reporters can be discerned at
some points, including some thinly veiled arguments in favor of
eliminating celibacy as a requirement for priesthood, Betrayal is
in general a good review of the scandal that has shaken the
Church in America.
Steven Martinovich is a freelancer writer in Sudbury, Ontario.
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